Instead of kicking back at the beach today, thousands of South Plainfield residents did something unusual in New Jersey these days.

They went to a Labor Day Parade.

At one of the oldest and biggest parades in the state, residents sat two and three deep, clapping and cheering as bagpipers, clowns, local boys and girl scouts, home-made floats, marching bands and even New Jersey's Gov. Jon Corzine paraded past.

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerPatriotic pride was on display Monday morning during the The 50th Anniversary Labor Day Parade in South Plainfield with thousands in attendance.

"It's pretty important--not a lot of towns have Labor Day Parades," said councilman RayPetronko.

This morning's parade was the 50th in the history of the Middlesex County borough, and is a tradition that is still going strong at time when only a handful of other towns in the state hold parades honoring the working man. In fact, it has become part of a dwindling tradition across the country.

Matt Rainey/The Star-Ledger

Many parades have either ceased, moved to a different day or morphed into carnivals instead. Once mighty labor strongholds like Chicago and New York City scrapped their plans, a casualty of declining union membership and vacation plans.

"Unfortunately Labor Day has gone the way of many holidays," said Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Essex), a prominent union leader. "Unfortunately, people look at it as a three-day holiday weekend. Frankly, it's hard to get people on Labor Day."

Not in South Plainfield, where residents are fiercely loyal to an old-fashioned parade that showcases local firefighters blasting ear-splitting sirens, schoolchildren waving from floats, a clown car that belched smoke and squirted water, and a showing of vintage cars.

"It not only brings out people, it brings the community together," said Russ Cembrola, who has lived in town for 51 years and is a regular parade attendee.. "This is one of the best in the state It's gotten bigger and bigger and this looks like the biggest crowd I've seen in years."

Margie Feinman, who lives in Fanwood, brought her 6-year-old son David to see a Labor Day parade she remembered watching as a youngster herself. Her family would come when they lived in neighboring Plainfield.